KC Jones has died

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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He was 88, but goddamn 2020.

A great player and a great coach. And a nice guy who finished first. 12 times.
 

cornwalls@6

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Apr 23, 2010
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Sad to hear it. He was the absolute right man for the Job when Fitch wore out his welcome, allowed that group to play their game, and take care of business. And coached the greatest Celtic, if not NBA, team of all time. A HOFer in every sense of the word. RIP.
 

terrynever

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From someone who grew up in Philly, K.C. Jones was a wonderful opponent, a defensive wizard who complemented Bill Russell’s shutdown work under the hoop. K.C. usually drew Hal Greer on defense. I can still see K.C. belly to belly with Hal, trying to stop that trigger release Greer brought to the game.

Cornwalls@6 is right. K.C. brought the perfect temperament to the head coaching job for a team that was so smart on the floor.

Sorry for another tough loss, Celtics fans. All the great legends are leaving us. But what they left behind means so much.
 

EL Jeffe

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I met him once at a fundraiser at a Tony Roma's in Framingham. I was a kid at the time and the Celtics had recently traded Sam Vincent, my favorite player. I asked him about the trade and relayed how upset I was. KC was really gracious and talked to me for a bit about what a great person and player Vincent was. KC was the best.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Fitch was coach when I started watching, but Jones was coach when I knew what I was watching. Sad day.
 

staz

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The cradle of the game.
NBCSports Boston ran a retrospective of the 80s C's early in the pandemic that highlighted KC as the glue that kept all that talent and personalities working together - a steady hand on the rudder - just as I remembered. And at the pro level, that's job 1. RIP.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Sigh. His playing days were just a bit before my time, but I loved him as a coach. Such a warm, smart, and charismatic personality. RIP, KC.
 

bigq

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Jul 15, 2005
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Tough stretch for Celtics greats. KC was the C’s coach of my childhood. RIP, sir.
Ditto and well said. The teams he coached brought so much joy to me as a child. His ‘85-86 club was my favorite Boston team of all time across all sports. Thanks for all you did Mr Jones.
 

Dotrat

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I always loved KC--he just seemed like a low-key, warm, and intelligent human. And as others have said, his steady unflappability was perfect for those mid-'80s Celtics squads. I'll go to my grave believing the '86 Celts are the greatest team in NBA history--and wishing that they could've faced off against the '87 Lakers, IMHO the second-best team in history.
 

E5 Yaz

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"K.C. was the nicest man I ever met, he always went out of his way to make people feel good, it was such an honor to play for him," Larry Bird said in a statement. "His accomplishments are too many to list, but, to me, his greatest accomplishment was being such an outstanding person to all who had the privilege of knowing him, I will miss him dearly."
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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Best KC story I’ve heard was early on he called a final possession timeout and began scripting a play when Bird interrupted and said, “Just give me the ball and get everyone out of the way.” KC turned to Bird yelling at him to sit down and shut up......then addressed the huddle with, “DJ, get Larry the ball and everyone get out of the way.” RIP KC
 

RoDaddy

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Best KC story I’ve heard was early on he called a final possession timeout and began scripting a play when Bird interrupted and said, “Just give me the ball and get everyone out of the way.” KC turned to Bird yelling at him to sit down and shut up......then addressed the huddle with, “DJ, get Larry the ball and everyone get out of the way.” RIP KC
Yeah, I remember an interview - maybe with Fran Healy - where he said his Celt's coaching was pretty easy because no matter the situation, the strategy was "Get the ball to Larry"

Couldn't shoot or score as a player but Red stuck with him because he noticed that every time he put him into a game, the C's would increase their lead

I ran into him at Faneuil Hall shortly after the birth of my first nephew and asked if he could address an autograph to him. He wrote something about my nephew's birth followed by the word "Beautiful". From everything I' know, it was also a good word to describe KC
 

Lose Remerswaal

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NBCSports Boston ran a retrospective of the 80s C's early in the pandemic that highlighted KC as the glue that kept all that talent and personalities working together - a steady hand on the rudder - just as I remembered. And at the pro level, that's job 1. RIP.
They were showing the 1986 team retrospective Friday from 2-3PM which i was watching for at least the third time, and then this happened. :(
 

J.T. Pinch

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Oct 3, 2020
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He also won gold at the 1956 Olympics.

K.C. was assigned the duties of guarding La Salle's great Tom Gola in the 1955 Finals. Gola was a 3x first team All-American, the UPI player of the year, and had led La Salle to the NCAA title the previous season. Standing at 6'6'', Gola could dribble, shoot, pass, and rebound. (He's still the NCAA leading rebounder.) A reporter at the time said, "No college basketball player can do more things --with or without the ball---than Tom Gola." Giving away 5' inches in height, K.C. held Gola to 9 first half points and 7 second half ones while leading all scorers with 24 of his own, including 12 rebounds. Russell later was quoted as saying "Jones played the greatest basketball game seen by anyone at any time."
 

RG33

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A true class act and “winner” as Red always described him.

The Coach of the Celtics during my childhood glory years. Always someone that had a commanding presence and demanded respect. Growting up in a lily-white suburb, I think he is probably the first black man that in retrospect I had complete reverence for as a kid. I remember going to games with my Dad and seeing him on the sidelines and being in awe. I can’t get Andy Jick out of my head this morning thinking about it . . . “Trainer of the Boston Celtics, Ed Lacerte. Assistant Coaches Chris Ford and Jimmy Rodgers. Head coach. . . . K.C. . . . . Joneeeeesssss!”

RIP #25.

EDIT: Announcer name
 
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jaytftwofive

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Jan 20, 2013
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Really good man. He never should have been fired by the Bullets after 76 season. Bullets had tied the Celts with the best record in the league in 75 at 60-22. Beat Celts in 6 but were upset by a hot Warriors team led by Rick Barry etc.... GM Bob Ferry(Father of Danny) never forgot a timeout during the 75 Finals when one of the Bullets assistant coaches took over the time out and KC just watches as the assistant had the chalkboard etc.. The timeout was shown on CBS and Ferry always blamed him for being outplayed by a less talented(At the time) team. Dumb firing.
 

jaytftwofive

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Jan 20, 2013
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I think he was also an assistant coach on that great 72 Lakers team with that 69-13 record, coached by Bill Sharman. One of the best teams in my lifetime and a NBA win record that lasted for 24 years.
 

Pegleg

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Jul 15, 2005
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KC and Sam Jones were the Celtics second backcourt in the '50s. Cousy & Sharman were the first. But as time went on, the Jones's were getting better. One season, when Jerry West averaged around 31 PPG, I remember KC holding him to an average of around 18 PPG that season.
 

Granite Sox

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Man... teammates and friends with Russ for 60‘ish years. Such a complementary personality and player on the legendary Celtics dynasty teams. Nonpareil defender. Perfect coach for the Larry Era Celtics.

Along with losing Tommy this just sucks so much. Makes me really appreciate how legendary these guys truly are. Also makes me really sad.